Oppo will close its chip design team by citing global economic and smartphone industry uncertainty.
The 2019-founded Zeku unit of the Chinese smartphone maker will shut down. The MariSilicon X neural processing unit (NPU) improves smartphone video and pictures.
“Due to uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development,” a business representative stated.
China’s world’s largest smartphone market is still recovering from one of its greatest slumps as cost-conscious consumers avoid big-ticket purchases even after zero-COVID limitations were lifted.
Smartphone shipments plummeted 14% in 2022, falling below 300 million for the first time in a decade. Last month, Canalys reported that first-quarter smartphone shipments fell 11% to 67.2 million devices, the lowest quarterly total since 2013.
After the U.S. hamstrung Huawei Technologies’ (HWT.UL) smartphone sector with sanctions that prohibited it from procuring crucial components, Oppo and Xiaomi (1810. HK) established in-house chip design units to become self-sufficient.
